Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations

Training

February 3, 20141:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.

District Office-Building F

Introduction• The Guidelines document, which was approved by Smarter

Balanced governing states in September 2013, provides three categories of support for students taking the Smarter Balanced assessments.

• Smarter Balanced recognized that the validity of assessment results depends on each and every student having appropriate:

• Universal Tools• Designated Supports• Accommodations

when needed based on the constructs being measured by the assessment.

Recognizing Access Needs in All Students

• All students (including students with disabilities, ELLs, and ELLs with disabilities) are to be held to the same expectations for participation and performance on state assessments.

• All students enrolled in grades 3-8 and 11 are required to participate in the Smarter Balanced mathematics assessement except:– Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who meet the criteria

for the mathematics alternate assessment (approximately 1% or fewer of the student population).

• All students enrolled in grades 3-8 and 11 are required to participate in the Smarter Balanced English language/literacy assessment except:– Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who meet the criteria

for the English language/literacy alternate assessment (approximately 1% or fewer of the student population).

– ELLs who are enrolled for the first year in a U.S. school. These students instead participate in their state’s English language proficiency assessment.

• Universal tools-Available for all students (Example: digital notepad and scratch paper).

• Designated Supports-Available to students for whom a need has been identified by school personnel familiar with each student’s needs [this will be documented through our RTI process] (Example: translated pop-up glossary).

• Accommodations-Available need is documented in an individualized Education Program – IEP or 504 plan (Example: Braille and closed captioning).

The model portrays an additive and sequential nature.

Conceptual Model Preview

Conceptual Model Preview• A universal tool for one content focus may be an

accommodation for another content focus (see page 19 in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations Guidelines. For example, calculator).

• Similarly, a designated support may also be an accommodation, depending on the content target (see, for example, scribe).

• There are also embedded and non-embedded versions of the tools, supports, or accommodations depending on whether they are provided as digitally-delivered components of the test administration system or separate from it.

See page 4 in the

Guidelines

Recent Injury• A student with a recent injury (such as a broken hand or arm) that

make it difficult to produce responses may need to dictate their responses to a human, who then records the students’ responses verbatim. The use of this support may result in the student needing additional overall time to complete the assessment [Non-embedded Designated Support - Page 12].

• One exception to the IEP or 504 requirement is for students who have had a physical injury (e.g. broken hand or arm) that impairs their ability to use a computer. These students may use the speech-to-text [Non-embedded Accommodations on page 17] or the scribe [Non-embedded Accommodations on pages 16 and 17] accommodations (if they have had sufficient experience with the use of these).

Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)Accessing TIDE: First-Time Users

See Pages 8 and 9 in the TIDE User Guide

Do NOT share your login information with anyone not authorized to access TIDE.

Users who have been added to TIDE will receive an automated email from Smarter-DoNotReply @airast.org (Check your spam folder). This email contains the following information:– Your welcome to TIDE– A temporary password– A link to the login page.

Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)Accessing TIDE: First-Time Users (cont.)

1. In the email, click the link to access the login page.2. Enter your username (email address) and temporary password.

Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) Accessing TIDE: First-Time Users (cont.)

3. Enter your new password into the New Password and Confirm Password fields. (The new password must be at least 6 characters long, and at least one of those characters must be numeric.)4. Click [Submit]. You will be directed to the Password Reset Options page.

Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE) Accessing TIDE: First-Time Users (cont.)

5. Select a security question from the list.6. In the “Answer” text box, provide your answer to the security question.7. Click [Save]. You will be directed to the TIDE Home page.

Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)Logging in to TIDE: Post-Account Activation

• Embedded test settings must be enabled in TIDE for those students who require changes to the default test environment (e.g., larger font [print] size, print on demand). Test settings are defined by content area (mathematics and English Language Arts [ELA]).

• Non-embedded supports must be acquired prior to testing.

1. Open your web browser and navigate to the Smarter Balanced portal (sbac.portal.airast.org).2. Select the Field Tests.

3. Click the [Online TIDE System] button. You will be directed to the Smarter Balanced Single Sign On (SSO) login page.

4. Type your username and password in the respective text boxes and click [Log In]. You will be directed to the TIDE Home page.

Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)TIDE Home Page

• The first screen you will see after logging in to TIDE is the TIDE Home page. Your user role is displayed on the screen in the top right corner, next to your name.

The TIDEBanner, whichcontains the “file” tabs isvisible at all times. Whenyou click on the file tabs you will interface with tabs (access to tasks).

Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)Task Group: Student Information-See pages 29-35 in the TIDE User

Guide

You can edit students’ embedded test settings via the View/Edit Students task.

Remember that test settings are configurable by subject [English Language Arts(ELA) and mathematics].You may update the following test settings:American Sign Language, Color Contrast, Language (including braille and Spanish stacked translation) Masking, Permissive Mode, Print on Demand, Print Size, Streamlined Interface, Text-to-Speech, and Translation (Glossary), along with Non-Embedded Designated Supports and Non-Embedded Accommodations.

Test Information Distribution Engine (TIDE)Student Information (continued)

• Selecting test settings requires you to select the necessary option from a drop-down list.

• Selecting non-embedded designated supports or accommodations requires you to click the checkbox for each option the student will use on the test.

• For information about embedded test settings and their options, refer to Table 4 in the TIDE User Guide.• When you have finished updating the student’s information and/or test settings, click [Save Changes].

Don’t forget…Universal tools are generally available to all students, educators may determine that one or more might be distracting for a particular student, and thus might indicate that the tool should be turned off for the administration of the assessment to the student (see also Designated Supports).

Accommodations could increase the cognitive load or create other challenges for students who do not need them or who have not had experience using them (This applies to Designated supports as well).

Jigsaw TimeUsing Close Reading

Groups of 4 to 6 people (2 minutes)Read your section and mark the key points (5 minutes)

Teach the material to others (3 minutes)

Document 1: SBAC Usability, Accessibility, and Accommodations GuidelinesGroup 1: Pages 6 and 7 Embedded Universal ToolsGroup 2: Pages 7 and 8 Non-embedded Universal Tools Group 3: Pages 9 and 10 Embedded Designated SupportsGroup 4: Pages 11 and 12 Non-embedded Universal ToolsGroup 5: Pages 13, 14 and 15 Embedded AccommodationsGroup 6: Pages 15, 16 and 17 Non-embedded Accommodations

Document 2: Guidelines: Frequently Asked Questions Group 7: Pages 1, 2 and 3Group 8: Pages 4, 5 and 6Group 9: Pages 7, 8 and 9Group 10: Pages 10, 11, 12 and 13

Resources/Questions and AnswersThese supports are intended to be used beginning with the spring 2014 Field Test. The Guidelines and accompanying FAQs are available on the

CDE Smarter Balanced Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sa/access.asp.

Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium: TIDE User Guide can be found at http://sbac.portal.airast.org.

Questions

Deborah J. BryantDirector of Assessment and Accountability

(951) 940-6100 x 10410E-Mail: dbryant@valverde.edu